Exercise In Your Activities Of Daily Living

The more you move, the more you lose! So it makes sense to cut out some of the labor-saving conveniences in your life and opt for exerting renewable human energy. Use a rake instead of a leaf blower, a push mover instead of a power mower. Walk instead of riding a cart around the golf course. Choose the parking place farthest away from the store. Do exercises while talking on the telephone. Walk rather than drive to nearby destinations – and pick up your pace. A little effort and a few more minutes taken for activity in your daily routine can yield significant results. Move it and lose it.


When you meet an incremental goal in your weight loss diet and plan, you can feel good simply knowing you've accomplished your objective. However, going one step further and doing something tangible for yourself marks a milestone and gives you the added weight loss motivation to continue on with your plan.


Buy a dress in your new reduced size, take a day trip or a get-away with your favorite person, buy tickets to a special event or game, or buy yourself a huge bouquet of your favorite flowers – just try to stay away from the double-chocolate cheesecake reward. The more you reward yourself with nonfood rewards, the more likely you will be to avoid rewarding yourself with food in the future.


Plan your meals in advance. Spur-of-the-moment meals generally mean fast food or a deli takeout – both of which generally contains excess calories and fat grams. Having a one-week plan helps in several ways: grocery shopping lists can be very specific, menus can be checked readily for nutritional balance, food treats can be sprinkled throughout the week to avert impulse binges, and the plan can serve as a checklist. Marking off items on such a list can be motivating.


As you plan menus, also plan your schedule to allow sufficient time both to prepare and consume nutritive meals. When planning to cook a special low-cal, low-fat dish, invite a friend to share the meal with you.


Some people find it helpful to weight daily – sort of an early-morning reality check. Others recommend a weekly weigh-in, at the same time for each week, since weight can fluctuate a pound or two daily depending on fluid retention.


Regardless of how frequently you weigh, discipline yourself to weigh regularly on a reliable scale. Keep tract of your progress, and focus on the number you want to see on the scale. Remember, too, that the scale is not only to measure success. If you are exercising and turning fat to muscle, you may not see much change on the scale. Pay attention to the way your clothes fit in conjunction with weight loss.


Exercise after work and before eating dinner. The hour just after work or school is the time when most people feel the least energetic, and it is also the time when people are likely to grab a high-calorie snack to recharge. Rather than stopping at a fast-food place on your way home from work, try a workout instead.